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ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS It is indeed mainly by their difference from those found in the graves that we are enabled to assign a certain number of extant spearheads to the later period. A particularly fine specimen in the national col- lection, 27-4 in. long with four pairs of grooves round the split socket, was found on the banks of the Thames, probably within the area dealt with in these pages, and may serve as a type. The blade is of flat lozenge section with the edges forming an angle below the middle point, but the chief peculiarity is a pair of projections or shoulders on a level with the base of the blade, probably to strengthen the weapon at what must generally have been the weakest point, at the junction of blade and socket. This feature cannot be fully appreciated from an illustration, but occurs on another specimen in the collection from the Thames at London, zgl in. long ; and both show remarkable skill and taste on the maker's part, though weapons of such length were probably intended only for purposes of parade. Another spearhead in the same collection, also from the Thames at the Temple, is of extra- ordinary length (261 in.), but is of inferior work- manship, with a leaf-shaped blade and the socket- edges meeting, part of the shaft being preserved through the rusting of the metal. It is quite plain, and was made for use rather than ornament at a time when long spearheads were in fashion. It is on these grounds assigned to the Danish period, but at present it stands in a class by itself. Three spearheads (two in the British Museum and one at Sheffield), and part of a fourth of a smaller size, have also been found in the Thames, and can be classified with the help of continental finds. Two out of the three are here illustrated (figs. 3, 4), and their outlines can be readily distinguished from others, but it should be mentioned in addition that specimens of this kind are surprisingly massive, and it is thought that they were used for hunting purposes. Their most salient feature, however, is a pair of wings below the blade, a feature that appears in rudimentary form on a specimen from Lake Bourget, Switzerland, with the socket inlaid with bronze ; ** and the type is known from various parts of Charlemagne's dominions, as well as from Nottingham and Henley-on-Thames' in our own country, while others from Amiens and Marne are in the British Museum. The Nottingham specimen was found in association with a sword like fig. 12, and sufficient evidence has been col- lected abroad '° for their attribution to the Carlovingian period (ninth and tenth centuries) ; and that they were not unknown Fig. 3. — Iron Spearhead with Cross-bar, Lon- don (l) '^^/A Fig. 4. — Iron Spearhead with Silver Rivets, City of London (i) •' Chamber/ Museum ; figd. by Munro, Laie DzveUlngs of Europe, 544. ' F.C.H^Notts. i, 203 (Tower of London) ; Berks, i, 246 (Reading Museum). '° Mittheilungen der anthrop. Gesellschaft in ICien, xxix (1S99), p. 37, pi. i. IS!